Michigan football replaces Matt Weiss with Kirk Campbell, names him QB coach

Michigan football has found a replacement for Matt Weiss by dipping into its own ranks.

Kirk Campbell, a 36-year-old who spent this past season in an off-field role as an analyst, has been promoted to quarterbacks coach.

For now, he hasn't been given the co-offensive coordinator title held by Weiss, who shared play-calling duties with Sherrone Moore in a collaboration that helped spur the Wolverines to a 13-1 record, a second consecutive Big Ten title and another appearance in the College Football Playoff.

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Weiss' contributions were notable, as Michigan finished sixth in the nation in scoring while averaging 40.4 points per game.

But Weiss, who had just finished his second season on staff, was fired on Jan. 20, only days after he was placed on leave amid a police investigation into alleged computer access crimes that took place at Schembechler Hall in December. According to the U-M Police log, a university employee informed them about the incident on Jan. 5 and numerous reports have surfaced that authorities were seen in marked and unmarked vehicles at Weiss' Ann Arbor home a few days later.

"I look forward to putting this matter behind me and returning my focus to the game that I love," Weiss wrote in a Twitter message after his termination.

Campbell, meanwhile, will attempt to extract more positive results out of J.J. McCarthy. The rising junior wrested the starting job from Cade McNamara this past fall and threw for 2,719 yards and 22 touchdowns while completing 64.9% of his pass attempts. McCarthy supplemented a formidable running game that will continue to feature Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards this upcoming season.

Campbell is intimately familiar with the entire operation. His institutional knowledge and past experience calling plays should help ease his transition into a premium role that could influence Michigan's future in the coming year. Prior to coming to Michigan in 2022, he served two seasons as offensive coordinator at Old Dominion.

“Kirk is a bright, young offensive mind that immediately meshed with our coaching staff last year,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said in a statement. “Our offensive staff was really impressed with his knowledge and expertise of the entire offense, and he was integral to the success of the offense with game planning and opponent scouting. Kirk does an outstanding job developing relationships and I know he will have an outstanding rapport with our quarterbacks."

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football names Kirk Campbell QB coach